1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a socket for electrical parts, which detachably holds an electrical part on a mounting portion thereof and connects the electrical part electrically to an external circuit, and particularly relates to a socket for electrical parts, including an alignment mechanism which moves the electrical part to an alignment position of the mounting portion, so that connection terminals of the electrical part can be aligned with a contact pin array, even if the electrical part has a large tolerance in outside dimensions.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional socket for electrical parts of this type comprises: a socket body on which is formed a mounting portion on which an electrical part such as an IC package is mounted, including a guiding portion which positions the electrical part by regulating a plurality of locations on a lateral surface of the electrical part mounted on the mounting portion; contact pins provided to be capable of being in contact with connection terminals of the electrical part mounted on the mounting portion; holding members each of which applies a pressure to the electrical part mounted on the mounting portion to maintain the contact of the connection terminals with the contact pins; and a socket cover which operates the pressure applying and pressure releasing mechanism of each holding member.
The guiding portion of the socket body, which regulates the plurality of locations on the lateral surface of the electrical part mounted on the mounting portion to position the electrical part, is provided in a fixed state around the mounting portion. When the electrical part is mounted on the mounting portion to be installed in the socket, the guiding portion guides the electrical part to a predetermined position. Furthermore, each holding member applies a downward pressure to the electrical part mounted on the mounting portion, thereby maintaining the contact of the connection terminals of the electrical part with the contact pins. As a result, the socket for electrical parts detachably holds the electrical part on the mounting portion, and connects the electrical part electrically to an external circuit in performance testing such as the burn-in testing for eliminating early stage failures in the electrical part or the electrical conduction test.
However, in such a socket for electrical parts used in the performance testing of electrical parts, since positioning of the electrical part is performed by regulating the plurality of locations on the lateral surface of the electrical part by means of the guiding portion provided around the mounting portion, electrical parts which have large tolerances in outside dimensions sometimes cannot be positioned accurately. For example, as shown in FIG. 2, in an electrical part in the form of a so-called folded package 20 or the like formed by sealing a semiconductor substrate inside a folded flexible substrate, a folded side 21 of the folded package 20 has a larger dimensional tolerance than those of the other unfolded sides. Consequently, when the folded side 21 of the folded package 20 is regulated and positioned by the guiding portion provided around the mounting portion, the folded package 20 sometimes cannot be mounted accurately at a predetermined alignment position of the mounting portion. In such a case, a problem occurs in that each connection terminal 22 of the package 20 is not guided to a predetermined contact pin, and may be inadvertently guided to an adjacent contact pin, for example, thereby failing to ensure reliable electrical conduction between the connection terminals 22 of the folded package 20 and the contact pins, and preventing the performance testing from being carried out properly.
In order to solve the problem described above, an object of the present invention is to provide a socket for electrical parts, including an alignment mechanism which moves an electrical part to an alignment position of a mounting portion, so that connection terminals of the electrical part can be aligned with a contact pin array, even if the electrical part has a large tolerance in outside dimensions.
In order to achieve the object described above, a socket for electrical parts according to the present invention comprises: contact pins capable of being in contact with connection terminals of an electrical part; a socket body provided with a mounting portion on which the electrical part is mounted, and disposed with, on the mounting portion, an insertion position into which the electrical part is inserted, and an alignment position at which an array of the connection terminals of the electrical part is aligned with an array of the contact pins; and an alignment mechanism which moves the electrical part from the insertion position to the alignment position of the mounting portion.
With such a construction, the electrical part mounted on the mounting portion can be moved from the insertion position to the alignment position by the alignment mechanism. Consequently, even with electrical parts which have large tolerances in outside dimensions, the connection terminals of the electrical part can be aligned with the array of the contact pins, thereby ensuring reliable electrical conduction between the connection terminals of the electrical part and the contact pins, and allowing accurate performance testing to be carried out.
Further, the socket for electrical parts according to the present invention comprises holding means which are movable between a pressure applying position in which each holding means applies a pressure to the electrical part mounted on the mounting portion, and a withdrawal position in which each holding means is withdrawn from the mounting portion so as to enable to insert or remove the electrical part.
Consequently, the electrical part is mounted on the mounting portion while the holding means are in the withdrawal position, and then, the holding means are moved to the pressure applying position, to apply a pressure to the electrical part mounted on the mounting portion thereby holding the electrical part. Accordingly, it is possible to ensure reliable electrical conduction between the connection terminals of the electrical part and the contact pins.